Bri in Chi said:
We gotta hoist a cold one in respect for Semper Fi. He's doing a very righteous thing.
Very much so.
I've only been to DC twice, once as a kid and once last year. When I was younger, we hit all the monuments. The Wall was one of those. I still remember it today. I remember my American history teacher, Mr. Fedge, asking me if I was all right afterwards. It must've been very powerful.
The last time I was there it was a different story and I did not see it. (I should have.) My family lives in the area and my father works in DC. It may be time for another trip, the next time that I'm there.
That last trip to DC, I recall rolling down the highway to DC with my father in a 60-something Mini. (He's into classic British cars. Had I the money, I would be too.) I remember looking through the rain, peering past the traffic, thinking back on the very difficult year before and marvelling at the various monuments in the distance. The image of a legionary returning to Rome entered my mind and it took me some time to shake it. Until very recently my father and I were on very bad terms but something changed on this trip and I will remember it fondly for that reason alone. We hit the Smithsonian's air and space exhibit and I had the time of my life; I layed my hand on a Me 262 and achieved one of my two Me 262-oriented goals in this life, the other being to actually fly one. (Yes, there is a barricade around it, but when I climbed over and touched the plane no one said anything. It was a slow day.) I did want to see the Wall but I believe that it's a sore point with my father, as his admitted purpose for enlisting was to avoid the draft...that, and as a Washingtonian, rain doesn't bother me quite as much as it bothers him.
I know that he's lost friends there. I have not, and will not, ask. He'll bring it up when he's good and ready, just as his father did - another story in itself. Lots of sailors in this family.
We're beginning to see things as they are. We're both pacifists at heart, although this is a new thing for me. We both enjoy shooting but he refuses to own weapons on moral grounds. (I have a standing offer with him - the day he decides that he's ready to own a weapon, I will purchase it for him...no questions asked.) We both like Phil Ochs. We'll find that common ground soon enough. I wouldn't have thought it possible a few years ago. It makes me happy beyond simple expression that we're here, at this point, and both of us are alive and relatively healthy. I did not want one of us to die on the old terms. I don't think that he wanted this, either. We'll sort it out in due time.
Things are better now, and I'd very much like to see the Wall with him. Maybe next time, if we're lucky. I think it will happen. I hope it will happen.
I think that he does too.
(Had to see if someone could cover a conflict for me and they can.)
I forgot to ask???
